How To Enable Developer Mode and Root The Honda Civic 2017

Till now we use to hear about rooting a mobile device only, but this post is about rooting a car. Yes, we are talking about the Android Auto unit that is present on the Honda Civic 2017 which needs to be rooted.

Android Auto is an infotainment unit present on this car, and rooting it will allow you install different individual apps on it, and make you use the unit in a better way. The rooting method of Android Auto is discovered by an XDA member and now we are able to enable the developer mode too on this unit. This post is about how to enable developer mode and root the Honda Civic 2017.

Instructions to enable the developer mode and root the Android Auto:

Activating the developer mode on an Android Smartphone is a good thing as it lets you perform many tasks which you can’t otherwise do. To activate the Android Auto 2.0 developer mode on your smartphone, you just have to tap the phone’s device info seven times and you’ll get the developer options menu. However, to enable it on Android Auto, you’ll have to perform different steps. Following are the steps to root Honda Civic 2017:

Navigate to the Honda Civic developer mode in the head unit and enable USB debugging.

Go to the Android settings and click ‘About’.

Click on the build number seven times.

You will get a prompt ‘please enter a passcode’.

Now click the 4 top items in the order 1, 4, 2, 3 and you’ll enable the developer mode.

Change the USB mode to ‘device’ from ‘host’ in the head unit. You can know further about it here.

Press the power, brightness button, and menu together till you get a new menu with two options. Open the bottom option which is named as ‘detailed information and settings’.

Enter another menu by holding the menu key.

Enter the last menu by holding the home key. You will hear two beeps consecutively and one last beep after that.

Now you can connect your laptop using the USB A to A cable. You will now be able to connect your laptop to the front of Android Auto/CarPlay port.

Change the USB port mode from ‘host’ to ‘device’.

The laptop will automatically start installing the drivers and you can check whether you’re connected by typing ‘ADB devices’ and it will show up in the head unit.

Now run the following script to root the head unit. If everything goes correctly you will see ‘success’ in the end.

Mac/Linux: ./root.sh

Windows: root.bat

Restart the head unit and in the app list you will see SuperSU (v2.78).

Run this script to install the app:

Mac/Linux: ./install.sh file.apk

Windows: install.bat file.apk

Conclusion:

You can easily install apps on Honda Civic 2017 after you have root the device. This is because the Android Auto Developer mode features a lot of apps that can be useful for you. The XDA developers Honda Pilot have made it easier for all the users to root the Android Auto unit. You can get more information and details regarding the topic on this forum.

Amna is a creative writer, SEO specialist, and an engineer. In addition to writing, she likes to do a lot of research on various topics that can spread awareness and benefit the people in the long run.